Art Mom

I have recently become the art mom for T's kindergarten class. I had signed up to volunteer in his classroom. Then I received an email from the teacher who mentioned they were still looking for a parent to take on art responsibilities. I took a deep breath and said I could do art but I would need a little help during November and possibly December after having a new baby. The teacher, Mrs. T, said she had another volunteer that I would work with to help with those months.

I was doubting my abilities to be the art mom. Apparently, it's a big deal to be the art mom in a class because there is this big art night later in the year and it's like a big gallery opening and the art projects displatyed are supposed to be amazing and based on the assigned artist of the month. Another big deep breath - could I do this? I'm a craft person, but art? I took Ms. Messina's basic art class in 9th grade but I was a far cry from being a star student. But give me some yarn or fabric and I'm in my element (even though I never took Ms. Grow's home ec class).

Well, the day I accepted being art mom I received a call from our city library. Now to preface, we live in the biggest city in the state so it's the biggest library in the state, too. The kids visit the library on a weekly basis. Most of the children's librarian's know our kids, particularly T, on a first name basis. The library recently held a mini-Comic-com and part of the festivities was a drawing contest. The contest was to draw a favorite super hero. That was an easy one for my kids who regularly wear super hero costumes. It was also not a small contest either. 

Lil Sister loves Wonder Woman (which is awesome because she was always my favorite, too). T loves Captain America. So, about a month before the event, they submitted their drawings. They did a few and picked their favorite. The call from the library was to say that both kids had placed in the drawing contest - not just honorable mentions but Lil Sister won first and T won second place. I was blown away - not just one winner in the family but two. The next day we went down to the library, the librarians congratulated the kids and gave them their prizes. There were some great prizes - comic books, gift certificates to our local comic book store, and new drawing kits. The kids were excited but then after their thank you's they asked if they could go check out books. We all laughed. Then T said he needed to speak with Ms. Tammy about ordering some new books on Egypt.

Speaking of Egypt, the kids have really been interested in ancient Egyptian art and culture. Yes, they found some books at the library. So, when Mrs. T said the month of September there was no artist assigned and I could pick my own, I chose ancient Egyptian art. I drew a sarcophagus, folded the paper, and inside drew a body. Then T colored the outside sarcophagus and the pasted "bandages" (cut up paper towels) over the body inside. It turned out great. The hardest part was I had to give a 3 minute presentation to the kids about the topic. Boy, I was more nervous to do that than to take my oral boards for graduation! In the end it worked out great. The day at kindergarten was awesome and exhausting. Actually, I was more tired after 3 hours there than 11 hours at my work. My job makes me quite mentally exhausted but chasing 22 kindergarteners was physically exhausting. My hat is truly off to Mrs. T for her hard work. By the way, we love her and T just loves class. More on that in a later posting.

So, here is the completed art project. It took T about 15 minutes but some of the kids needed the entire 20 minutes. I encouraged them to make the projects colorful in keeping with the genre of the artist. Even Lil Sister enjoyed making a mummy. 

I really think the art mom thing is going to be great. I have a bit more confidence after the kids won the art contest, too. I already have my project picked out for October. I will post that one when it is done. As a hint, it does involve gumball machines. November is Snoopy (Charles Schultz) and I have that one delegated out to the other volunteer. I do want to try and do a non-artist project like a turkey, too, but we'll see how much sleep I'm getting at that point.

I also want to point out that Lil Sister is actually quite the artist, not just drawing and coloring but in crafting. That girl carries crayons and colored pencils as well as a note pad everywhere. It's actually caused some grief of late if we leave the house without them. She is always making notes, jotting stuff down, and giving out her pictures. I've recently had some insomnia and one morning I got up around 5:30 and starting crocheting. My little sweet daughter heard me, got up, and asked if she could join me to keep me company. She ended up making a bracelet for herself and one for me. I took photos to capture the moment. It was charming and I am so proud to see my little girl practicing her artistic skills.Oh, and we both had great naps later that day, too.